I'm the Favorite!
by Monkey and Cookee
Summary: AU. Sequel to "Family Vacation." Light is a wonderful "mommy." Matt, Mello and Near want to prove which one of them he loves the most without Light suspecting anything. And L happily watches the chaos unfold. Family fic. LxLight. -M.
1. They're Up to Something

**Monkey: Hello~ Happy late New Year ^^**

**Yes, I am back with another DN fic and no I haven't forgotten my other DN fic :)**

**Enjoy :D**

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><p>"Daddy!" a loud yell sounded through the whole house.<p>

In the kitchen, the coffee pot slipped out of his hands but he was able to catch it at the last moment.

Three boys chased each other down the stairs. Their steps mimicked thunder, their yells loud enough to be heard outside their house.

A brunette walked over to the dining room with two cups of coffee in his hands. He briefly looked back in the general direction of the stairs and wondered if those three would break something.

Nothing happened so he shrugged and continued on, passing one of the cups to a raven sitting in an unusual position on a chair, with a laptop in front of him. He accepted the heavily sweetened coffee.

"They will not break something today, Light. The odds are against them." L spoke, taking a sip of the dark liquid.

His response was a sigh before he sat down besides L, waiting for their three kids to come bursting into the dining room.

Mello was the oldest at eight years old. He was blonde and had quite a temper, not to mention a frightening addiction to chocolate. Matt came in second at seven years old. He was a redhead and loved anything to do with computers, especially video games. His collection of video games barely fit in his huge closest. The youngest was Near, a six year old who was a little small for his age, with a shock of white hair. He had an obsession with any kind of toys and his collection outmatched Matt's games. Not to mention, the three of them were geniuses.

Basically, Light and L picked the three most adorable, smartest boys at the Wammy House to adopt. But every family has to have some kind of dysfunction.

Theirs?

Well among _many _other things, their sons loved to fight with each other.

"I'll skin you two alive!" Mello yelled, following Matt and Near who burst into the dining room just like their daddy expected and headed straight for Light.

L merely made sure to have a hold on both cups of coffee a moment before Light was tackled by their two youngest sons. He set the cups on the table once it steadied and continued looking through the files on the monitor in front of him.

For them, this was sadly a common occurrence.

Matt scrambled to hold on to Light's shirt while Near made sure to hide behind him.

Mello skidded to a halt a few feet away and looked furious. "Cowards!"

Light, who stood up with little difficulty, put the youngest boys behind him while he walked over to the blonde. He leaned down to his level.

"Good morning Mello," he gave him a gentle smile that not even Mello could resist.

"Morning Daddy," he glanced at L. "Dad."

L hummed in response.

Light raised his hand to touch Mello's hair. He wanted to give him a haircut because Mello was starting to look a bit like a girl, but the blonde would have none of that.

_One day,_ Light thought. His fingers played with the ends of his hair before he spoke. "What's got you so riled up this early in the morning?"

Mello suddenly remembered his anger and pointed at the two who stood a little closer to L now. The raven lifted his gaze slightly from the monitor, curious to what was the problem today.

"These rugrats flushed my favorite chocolate down the toilet! And I was saving that one for a week now!" He lunged at them but Light drew him into his arms for a hug. Mello struggled for a moment before giving up—no one could win against their daddy.

"Don't worry, I'll get you a new one." He promised. He stood to his full height and turned to face his other kids. "And you two, apologize."

"An apology? That's it? That's not fair! I want their heads!" Mello exclaimed, but went ignored.

Matt and Near looked at each other before looking down in surrender. "We're sorry…"

"Like you mean it."

They tensed at their daddy's voice before relaxing. Of course he knows, he always knows. They locked eyes with Mello. "We're sorry Mello."

The blonde crossed his arms over his chest, frowning. "I don't forgive you."

"Mello."

"… Fine. I forgive you."

Light smiled before clapping his hands once. "There, now that that's settled, go and get ready for school, alright?"

The three kids stared at him before nodding, realizing that it was in fact a school day. Mello walked out first and when Matt was sure the blonde was far enough away, he left too. He figured Mello would be well on his way to his room, but he was wrong. As soon as he walked out, Mello smacked his head. Matt cried out and began running again, both making a mad dash to the stairs.

Light and L chose to ignore the "playful" fight.

Near walked over to Light and pulled on the bottom of his shirt.

"Hello Near." Light greeted.

Near raised his arms up and Light complied. Because Near was still a little small, Light could easily carry him.

"We flushed his chocolate because he flushed my robot and Matt's newest game," Near spoke, resting his head on Light's shoulder.

Light shifted his weight a bit to reach out for his coffee. "I know. That's why I only had you two apologize. He'll apologize later too."

"Okay."

L resumed looking at his files. "Light, you are a force to be reckoned with." He typed quickly on his keyboard, his mind connecting the fragmented pieces of the case in front of him. Ah! He knew who the murderer was! Beat his record timing too, by seventeen seconds. Easiest case he's had all month.

"Hm?" Light looked at him. "How so?" He smirked slightly, before hiding it. He totally knew what L was talking about, he just wanted to hear him say it.

L paused long enough to take a sip of his sweet coffee. "You have complete control of this house." He pondered for a fraction of a second. "Even me."

Light chuckled. "Of course." He looked at Near then set him down. "Go get ready."

And Near shuffled off with his oversized pajamas, bringing an adorable sight.

Near made it up the stairs when he saw Mello and Matt arguing. This got his attention. They rarely argued—they usually fought because it was more fun that way. He raised a brow in interest.

"Obviously I'm his favorite, I'm the oldest and my charm works on him best. Look at today for example," Mello proclaimed. He stared the redhead down, mentally cursing their lack of height difference.

"Just because he puts you in charge doesn't mean you're his favorite," Matt replied, his hands already itching to start playing with his PSP. He'd gone without it for too long.

"This is a repeat of the argument we had in Vegas." Near stated. He walked in between them to head to his room. He looked back at them. "Besides, _I'm_ the favorite."

Two jaws dropped before Mello quickly recovered with a smirk. "Alright then, let's call a bet." The other two waited. "One week to prove which one of us is his favorite."

Matt and Near exchanged glances. "Alright."

"Winner gets the satisfaction of knowing he's the favorite," Near began.

"_And_, winner gets total control of the other two for a week." Mello finished.

Matt scratched the back of his neck. "I have a feeling things are going to get ugly."

Mello scoffed. "Too late."

The three went on their separate ways to get ready for school, each already having thought of a hundred things they could do to make it obvious they were the favorite. Their lists were long, their plans surely effective, but it all came down to their performances.

They had to be perfect little angels for the next week. Not to mention, even more adorable than they already were.

A few minutes later, they walked out of their rooms and stared each other down, though Near left first, quietly shuffling past the older two who were so busy staring at each other, they didn't notice the albino, who was about a head shorter than them, make his way down the stairs.

"Daddy," he called out when he reached the bottom, effectively snapping Matt and Mello out of their staring contest.

"That runt got a head start!" Mello exclaimed. "After him!"

And they ran down the stairs and into the dining room, nearly colliding with L who held his coffee cup high above their heads.

He caught the mischievous look in their eyes. _They are up to something._ He watched them give Light a great big hug and calling out to L as they left.

L looked at the brunette who finished up his coffee. Light felt a pair of dark eyes on him and he spun around, cocking a brow. "What?"

"Nothing. Although, we do have the house to ourselves for the time being."

Light laughed as he walked passed him to put his empty cup in the sink, fully aware of what L was implying. "I don't think so."

L brought his thumb to his lips. "Please?"

"No."

"Pretty please?"

"Nope."

"With sugar on top?"

"Still no."

L sighed. "At least we're not married," he mumbled, turning his attention back to his work.

"I heard that."

L glanced in the direction of the kitchen. How did Light…? "Ah, right, the mommy senses."

"Heard that too."

L stopped talking. For now.

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><p><strong>Monkey: Well, here's the start. The rest of the chapters will be like little drabbles, because I really just want to focus on their attempts to win Light's attention. They'll be all cute and fluffy. Lol. <strong>

**Sooooo hopefully I'll update soon... Can't guarantee anything though. **

**Also, if anyone has seen Kim Jaejoong's Maze performance at the Tokyo Dome from a couple years ago (which I was watching when taking breaks from writing this chappie), does anyone else think Jaejoong looked like Light? Cuz that's totally who I pictured as I wrote this chappie out LOL.**

**Well, I'll hopefully see you guys later~ :)**

**Thank you for your time!**


	2. Time to Sleep

**Monkey: So I wrote this during my anthropology class earlier this week, but it took forever for me to get to typing it out, lol.**

**Hope you like it ^^**

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><p>"L, go to sleep," Light spoke in a soft whisper, muffled by a pillow.<p>

"I will go to sleep when I finish these cases," L replied. He tapped away at the laptop in front of him, because of course he had to take on multiple cases right before bedtime.

Light opened his eyes before turning to his side, reaching over to the laptop and dimming the light as low as he could. He retracted his arm beneath the warmth of his cozy blankets. L chuckled.

"It is bad to stare at a dark screen in a dark room."

"Then take it outside, I want to sleep." Light had had a particularly wild day with both the kids (L too) and his coworkers. He came home with a headache and now he just wanted to have a good night's rest before having to get up early in the morning in order to prepare everyone's breakfast.

L looked over at Light with a smirk. "No."

"L."

"There is one thing you can do to get me to take this outside."

"…" Light lifted the blanket up over his head. "Forget it. I'll just cover my face. Goodnight, L."

"Goodnight, Light. Although, I have a strange feeling that you won't get much sleep."

Light opened his eyes and saw darkness. He rolled his eyes, not caring that L couldn't see it, though the detective could probably _feel_ it by now. "Stop trying to jinx—" a shiver went up his spine. He closed his eyes tightly.

Ah, there went the mommy senses again.

"… I have the same feeling."

Only a couple moments later did they hear a faint knocking on their door.

L stared at the door. He really didn't want to get it. Nothing good could come out of the kids being awake at two in the morning.

A sigh escaped Light's lips. "I'll take care of it." He slowly got out of the bed and made his way to the door.

When he opened it, he was surprised at who he saw. "Near? What's wrong?"

He expected either Matt or Mello. The smallest of the three rarely had problems at night. Mello and Matt constantly fought so they often came to Light and L to break them up.

Near was holding onto a beige teddy bear with a dark red bowtie around its neck; the bear was almost as big as Near was. He hugged it close. "Daddy, Mello and Matt are picking on me again." He hid part of his face behind the bear's head.

L walked up behind Light and looked closely at the bear at the same time the brunette did.

"Your bear…"

L reached out for it and Near timidly took a step back, but L still managed to gently pull it out of his grasp. Near looked down.

The head of his bear hung limply to the side, all his fluffy filled insides revealed to the world.

"You've got to be kidding me. I'm going to ground them for weeks," Light began. That bear had been his mother's present to Near, all the boys got one of those when they were first adopted. He made to walk passed Near when L took a hold of his wrist.

"Stay here, climb into bed. I will handle the other two."

Light looked gratefully at the raven. He smiled. "Thank you, good luck."

L nodded, knowing he'd need it.

He left the bear with Light and walked towards Mello's room, getting Matt out along the way.

Light watched them with the little light in the house currently provided by the dim laptop screen and shook his head. He could only hope this fighting would settle out eventually. He reached a hand out to Near who looked at him. Near lifted up both arms and Light picked him up.

Another day, another night, his job with his family was never over.

And he honestly wouldn't have it any other way.

He took them to the bed, turned off L's laptop (he surely wouldn't mind) and put it away before setting Near down on the bed. Light sat beside him. The moonlight streaming in from the window kept them with enough light to see each other.

"Wanna tell me what happened?"

Near avoided his gaze. "… I called Mello a girl…"

"Again?"

A nod. "He called me a freaky dwarf."

"And Matt?"

"Mello has his PSP held hostage so he has to do everything Mello says for a while."

Light sighed. Of course. He reached over and lightly pushed Near back to lay down and brought the blanket over him before slipping under them himself.

They were on their sides facing each other.

"I'm sorry Daddy."

Caramel eyes blinked in confusion. "For what?"

"For waking you up," Near softly spoke. With any other person, Near hardly showed much emotion, even with L. But it was something about his daddy that got to him—all three of them. Four, if he included the world's greatest detective.

"No, Near, don't be silly. I'm always here for you whenever you need me, I don't mind. And L doesn't either, no matter what he says," he quickly added, fully aware of the kind of impression L is adamant on having the kids have of him.

"Really?"

"Yes." He took in a deep breath. "What do you say we get some sleep? I'll fix your bear tomorrow."

"Okay."

Light lifted an arm up under the covers as a sign to have Near come closer to him. He did so, shyly at first, before feeling the comfort of being with his daddy.

Near cuddled against Light's chest, feeling his daddy's arms come and wrap around him protectively.

"Goodnight Near," Light whispered, bringing a hand up to lightly caress the albino's hair. The soft, continuous touches lulled Near to sleep, his eyelids feeling heavy.

Light's faint breathing and steady heart rate relaxed Near, who fell asleep moments later.

A parent's job was never done; Light could only imagine what L was doing to deal with Matt and Mello who were going to get a talk to by him tomorrow in the morning.

_Ah, so much to do, so little time._ Light thought, quickly preparing a mental list of all the things he had to do tomorrow before dropping the kids off at school and going to work. He stopped the list short, willing his mind to turn off for a bit so he can get some rest.

Light continued caressing Near's hair, noting the quiet, even breathing coming from his youngest. He breathed in deeply, slowly letting it out. It was moments like this that brought a smile to face, no matter how tired he was.

He was glad he adopted three kids with L. They just made life more interesting.

Caramel eyes closed, his body relaxing, his hand resting besides Near's head.

Soon after, he joined the albino in the realm of sleep.

L walked in quietly about a half hour later, after having finally put Matt and Mello to sleep following their talk. He walked over to the bed and titled his head to the side a bit. Even he would admit the sight of his boyfriend and his son made was absolutely adorable.

_Even if they all like to stir up trouble,_ L thought, bringing his thumb to his lips like he tended to.

He wasn't sleepy in the slightest, so he just stood there, watching them for a few moments. He had noticed the second he walked in the room that Light had turned off his laptop. There was still a case he needed to finish, but he could easily finish it in another room.

_With some strawberry shortcake,_ L smiled.

The raven bent down and kissed the side of Near's head and kissed the top of Light's head.

"Just this once, I will let you take up my cuddle time with Light," he whispered to Near.

He walked over to his laptop, picked it up and left the room, silently closing the door behind him so he could stay up another night to get his job done.

In his sleep, a small smile graced Near's lips.

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><p><strong>Monkey: So yeah, this is what I meant by having the following chapters be little fluffy drabbles basically. This "moment" isn't actually part of the bet, but I wanted to have Light and Near have a fluffy moment. Lol.<strong>

**I already have the next few chapters written out (in my other classes), but I don't know when I'll get around to typing them, I get so lazy sometimes, like I have no motivation x.x**

**But let's hope I update this soon, lol xD**

**And my other DN fic, which has been forgotten lately...**

**Thank you to everyone who has reviewed/favorited/alerted this story! You guys are wonderful! ^o^**


	3. And So It Begins

**Monkey: Well, here's Mello's turn lol.**

**Hope you like it ^^**

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><p>It was no secret that Mello was known for throwing tantrums. Loud and obnoxious but calculated and methodical. He usually got what he wanted.<p>

Unless he threw a tantrum with L who would stare at him blankly, threaten to take away his secret stash of chocolate bars that not even Light knew about, and then make to leave, wherein at that point, the blonde would quickly run up to him.

But luckily, they weren't dealing with L at the moment.

Matt and Near knew Mello's tantrums frustrated their daddy, and right then, right before breakfast, they knew the perfect way to cause one of the blonde's famous outbursts. It was a quick way to get Mello in the negative zone of the bet, and they were ready to play dirty, hoping it would work.

The albino and redhead were seated at the table right next to each other. L was in the kitchen harassing Light while Mello was searching in the pantry for his after-breakfast chocolate bar. It was a habit of his, to always have a special chocolate bar right after every meal; Light let him, but only on the condition that Mello will always finish whatever is on his plate.

Light's fear of the blonde having diabetes was always lurking, but L always reminded him of his own frightful eating habits, making Light shift his worry over to the detective.

Right now, that Mello was away, now was their chance.

Near passed Matt a bottle of chocolate syrup. But it was only chocolate syrup in appearance. Inside, was some level ten hot sauce. Matt stealthily reached across the table and poured some into Mello's breakfast.

Everyone knew the blonde couldn't handle anything spicy.

The scrambled eggs on the blonde's plate were already covered with ketchup, so Matt was sure the hot sauce wouldn't be noticeable.

He hurriedly pulled back and gave the bottle to Near who hid it somewhere. Half a moment later, Mello stepped into the dinning room carrying his after-breakfast chocolate bar. He slid into his seat, put the bar beside his plate and looked at the two across from him.

He cocked a brow. "What?"

"Nothin'," Matt replied easily, beginning to eat his breakfast.

Near played with a small toy robot, aiming lasers at Mello's head.

They could hear Light and L speaking in the kitchen.

"Ice cream isn't for breakfast! You're setting a bad example!"

"I refuse to eat anything else."

"I didn't know there were four kids in the house."

"You will not bait me."

"What's more comfy, a nice, king-sized bed with fluffy pillows, or the couch?"

"Anywhere, as long as you are in my arms."

And that was the kids' cue to stop listening to them. Matt and Near discreetly watched the blonde raise a spoonful of eggs with "ketchup" on it to his lips.

When the spoon was in his mouth, he froze.

Here it comes!

Mello swallowed slowly, lowering his head.

The other two waited.

He lifted his head up, tears streaming down his face. "Daddy!" He jumped out of his seat and ran towards the kitchen, his arms outstretched in front of him. "Daddy!" He slammed into Light who nearly spilled his own breakfast, but L managed to get a hold of the plate just in time. He set it on the counter and waited to see what was wrong with their oldest.

"Mello! What's wrong? What happened?" Light asked, worried, bending down to Mello's level.

The blonde hiccupped before rubbing his eyes with his hands. "There's hot sauce in my food! I don't like it! Why did you put hot sauce in my food!"

Light raised an elegant brow and looked at L who shook his head, before going out to the dinning room. Really, there was no change in how they acted with each other. Every day was a different story.

"Ok, ok Mello, don't cry, please." Light softly spoke, hugging the blonde while rubbing soothing circles onto his back. "I don't know how you got hot sauce in your food, but it's okay, here, I'll get you some warm milk."

The blonde sniffled sadly and allowed Light to pull away from him in order to open the fridge and pull out the milk. He poured it into a small glass, placed it in the microwave and took it out, handing it to the tearing boy.

With shaking hands, Mello took the glass and brought it to his lips. The warm milk effectively calmed down most of the burning in his mouth.

Light watched him, waiting. "Better?"

Mello finished off the last of the glass and nodded slowly, his cheeks tinged with pink at crying over such a small thing.

Light seemed to sense his discomfort and gave a warm smile. "Don't worry, I know you can't handle spicy food, I'm just sorry it ended up on your food." He looked up and saw L walk in with a bottle of what looked to be chocolate syrup. "Why don't you go ahead and take my breakfast? It doesn't have any hot sauce on it, and then you can eat your chocolate bar, deal?"

"Deal. Thanks daddy," Mello said, still hiccupping a little as he gave Light a big hug. Light hugged him back with equal force before handing his plate to him and watching him leave.

Mello walked out into the dinning room and stuck his tongue out at them. "I will get you two."

Matt and Near ignored him. Their game was only beginning.

"They will be scary when they are older." L stated, uncapping the bottle and handing it to Light who just had to take a smell of it to know what was in there.

Light sighed. "I guess that it's a good thing?"

"Not when they seem to be taking after you."

They stared at each other for a bit before Light wordlessly dumped the hot sauce all over L's ice cream. "Enjoy."

L brought a finger to his mouth. "Touché."

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><p><strong>Monkey: Well, thank you for reading! And thank you everyone who has favoritedreviewed/alerted this story, you guys are amazing! x3**


	4. Caught in the Act

**Monkey: So this is just a bonus chapter because I was bored. Lol**

**Hope you like it ^^**

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><p>Light felt a pair of arms wrap around his waist and a chin rest on his shoulder. "Morning."<p>

"You are the perfect mother," L said, noting all the breakfast foods the brunette was making. Each food was a favorite of someone in the house; it meant Light was in a good mood.

_Just this once I'll let that slide._ "I would hope, I learned from my mother."

"She is a marvelous woman."

"You just like her pies."

"That may be, but she is still amazing."

Light chuckled, leaning into L's embrace. "Alright, cut the flattery, I know what you're after."

"I am not after anything."

"So you don't want some of her coconut cream pie?"

"I would never deny a piece of perfection such as that."

Light turned his head and the two looked at each other. "What if I told you that I made a coconut cream pie?"

L knew what that meant. "I would worship the ground you walk on."

Light kissed L. "Good, because my mom gave me her recipe and I made one."

Immediately after, L loosened his grip around Light's waist and turned towards the refrigerator.

"Not so fast." Light took a hold of L's shirt, causing the raven to stop, turn back around and pout. "Worship."

L smirked and kissed Light's smiling lips. He wrapped his arms around Light's waist again and drew him closer, their chests touching. Light chuckled into their kiss and placed his arms around L's neck. Light refused to admit it, but ever since their sons stepped into their lives, they had a lot less time for each other. He could easily go abstinent, but he knew L wasn't too fond of the idea. And he knew his resolve for being abstinent couldn't last too long with L as a partner.

And he _really_ missed those loving touches L provided him with. He sometimes felt like being spoiled after working so hard to take care of the family. But he never wanted to ask for it. And L knew that. So he would spoil him as best as he could when the kids weren't around.

They pulled away enough to look at each other before L began lightly tracing Light's jaw with soft kisses, each time going lower and lower, down his neck.

Light leaned his head back to give L more room.

L pushed him back into the counter, his hands moving from Light's waist to play with the button on his jeans. He placed a leg in between Light's and the brunette bit his lower lip to prevent from speaking. L moved his attention to the buttons on Light's shirt, slowly revealing his flawless skin. L stopped for a moment to look up at Light and lean in for another kiss.

"Achoo!"

"Damn it Matt!"

Light immediately pulled away from L, his face flushed with embarrassment. They were caught!

They noticed their kids standing at the threshold to the kitchen. Light saw his state of dress and rushed to cover himself up, forgetting about the buttons.

Light couldn't look them in the eye. "H-how long were you… were you there?"

"Long enough," Near deadpanned.

Light brought his hands up to cover his red face and walked out of the kitchen, completely mortified. Even after a few years, Light never really felt comfortable being intimate with L while the kids were around. He didn't want to corrupt their minds.

L chuckled lightly, going to the fridge and opening it. His eyes lit up when he saw the coconut cream pie sitting there, innocently. He grabbed it and found a fork in one of the drawers beside him.

"You better worship him." Mello stated.

L stared at him. He smirked. "Of course."

Up in the master bedroom, Light was curled under the covers, now sporting a faint blush over his cheeks. He groaned. "I heard that…"

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><p><strong>Monkey: Ok, so I hope that went a little better than I think it did. Cuz I think it went pretty badly. I both respect and fear authors who can write such scenes and then some on a daily basis, this is my first time really writing this out, and they were only making out. Lol, I fail OTL<strong>

**Now, it's been established that Light has a job, but I don't know what that job is. What do you guys think he should work as? :D**


	5. Matt's Sick Day

**Monkey: So I already have several chapters written and half written out, but this one was spawned after a week of being terribly sick with a cold and cough. Ugh. Horrible. I hate it when everyone at school gets sick because that ends up dragging me into things -_-**

**Well, hope you like it ^^ **

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><p>Light finished making almost a dozen chocolate pancakes before the kids were ready to go to school. The kids each only ate two, but L happily ate the rest, much to Light's chagrin.<p>

He heard two pairs of footsteps walk into the kitchen as he set the pancakes on their respective plates. When he turned around to give them their breakfast, he noticed he was missing a kid.

"Where's Matt?"

Near and Mello exchanged glances. They knew Matt didn't mean to, but he was about to seriously one-up them in their bet. "He's sick."

Light frowned. He hated it when his kids were sick; it was painful for him to watch. "I'll go check on him. You two eat your breakfast and make sure that L only eats _his _portion, okay?" No one needed a repeat of when L went and ate everyone's breakfast one time after Light left early for work.

The house had been a disaster by the time he came back.

"Okay daddy."

And like the worried mommy he was, Light quickly left the kitchen after making sure the stove was off and there weren't any harmful objects in sight for the kids.

When L walked into the kitchen and noticed Light's absence and the absence of his stack of pancakes, he mentally declared war and went out to find the two thieves who stole his chocolatey breakfast.

Light stopped at the door to Matt's room and softly spoke up. "Matt, can I come in?"

His reply was a pitiful cough.

Light's heart hurt and he opened the door quietly, so as not to disturb Matt. "Matt, hey, how are you feeling?" He approached Matt's bed and sat down beside the redhead. He could see a mountain of tissues, most of them unused, lying scattered about the bed with Matt hiding under a couple blankets.

The brunette reached out to gently remove the blanket from his head. He revealed Matt's pale face, complete with a red nose and flushed cheeks.

"How did you get sick? How long have you been sick?" Light asked, softly caressing Matt's hair, moving it from his face. His forehead was sweaty so Light pressed the back of his palm to it. He was warm but he didn't have a fever, so Light figured it was because of the blankets on him.

"Yesterday. Some kid at school." Matt choked out, his voice hoarse.

"Alright, I've seen and heard enough, you're not going to school today, I'm going to take care of you." Light leaned forward to press a kiss to Matt's forehead and left the room soon after in order to make some chicken soup.

He stopped at the bottom of the stairs to see the rest of his family being, well, themselves.

"Do not do what you plan to do." L commanded, his eyes focused on his precious breakfast.

The kids were bored and since they didn't have Matt to be the middleman and make things more fun, they decided to mess around with L. Mello was holding L's plate of half a dozen chocolate pancakes and Near was holding a lighter under it.

"We'll do it."

"We will."

"I will ground you until your third lifetime."

"Unbelievable. I'm gone two minutes and you three can't even eat your breakfast." Light shook his head and walked over to the kids, took the lighter (where did that even come from?) and plate from them then turned to face L.

Mello and Near looked on curiously.

"None for you." Light walked away victoriously.

L stared at him in shock. "But Light," he was not whining, his tone was just a little petulant. "They started it. They were going to burn my breakfast."

"Yes, but I'm sure you had to have started the mess. They usually don't act unless provoked." Today was the exception, but Light didn't need to know that.

Near and Mello had to admit what he said was sadly accurate.

About a half hour later, the kids were already gone for school and L was called up to make an appearance before Interpol to help them with a case so he left shortly after.

Light easily made his way up the stairs carrying a bowl of hot soup for Matt. He walked into the room and saw the redhead was holding a crumpled tissue to his nose.

"Bloody nose?"

Matt nodded.

Light set the bowl down on Matt's desk and carefully pinched the redhead's nose while pushing his head back a bit and then helping him lay down again altogether.

The brunette sat down next to him and lightly stroked Matt's red hair until the bleeding stopped.

Once that was done, Light reached over to get the bowl and helped Matt sit up again.

"You should feel a little better after eating this, and when you're done I'll give you some medicine."

Matt looked up at him with puffy eyes. "Daddy, you shouldn't be here. What about work?"

"I called off today. I'm not about to leave you here alone while you're sick." He watched Matt bring the spoon of soup slowly to his mouth and swallow it while cringing. It was probably delicious, but not only could he not taste anything, but he couldn't swallow properly either and that hurt.

He sneezed twice and blew his nose before tossing the tissue into the trashcan Light placed by his bed. "Daddy, I'll get you sick."

"Nonsense. I'll be fine."

"But everyone's getting sick right now," Matt began, coughing. "It'll spread."

"I'm not worried about that at all, so you shouldn't be either. Just focus on getting better, alright?"

"But…"

"Matt, I would gladly take a bullet for any of you if it came down to it, a little cold and cough isn't going to scare me." Light placed the half empty bowl back onto the desk and stood beside the bed. "I'll go get you your medicine."

When he came back, he found Matt hiding under the covers again.

"Matt, it'll help you get better faster." He held the vile liquid medicine in one hand and pulled the blankets down with the other. "Matt."

"No." He weakly replied before putting his hands over his mouth to prevent the medicine from going in.

Caramel eyes stared straight at the sick redhead who knew he only had so much time left before he gave in.

And like on cue, he sniffled helplessly and lowered his hands, sitting up while doing so. Light smiled and opened the medicine, making sure to pour out the required amount.

Matt swallowed the foul liquid and was thankful he really couldn't taste too much.

"Get some rest now, alright?" Light waited until Matt laid down again and lifted the blankets back up over him, making sure to keep his face exposed so he could easily get some air.

He turned to leave but a hand gripped the hem of his shirt. "Please don't go."

Light's heart melted and he climbed into bed without a second thought. He knew that when kids were sick they tended to remember that they were still only kids and no matter how smart they were, they still depended on their parents. He slid under the covers and felt Matt curl up with him.

The brunette smiled. Matt was a fighter; he would get better really quick. And he liked seeing this side of the redhead, the side that said he still really loved him, despite never being too open about his feelings like that. Light kissed Matt's forehead, noting happily that it wasn't that warm anymore and watched him slowly close his eyes.

He knew he was going to spend the entire day taking care of his middle son but he didn't mind at all. It made him happy and he couldn't wait for later tonight when Matt would hopefully be well enough so he could enjoy his favorite food that Light would make for dinner.

He could feel Matt's breathing even out and Light briefly closed his eyes. A parent's job was never done and any nap would be perfect to help him keep up with what was sure to be a busy day.

Light heard Matt begin to snore lightly because of his stuffed nose and he smiled at how cute that was.

At school, Near was dragging a frustrated Mello by the back of his shirt out the main entrance. It was a very comical sight actually, given the height difference between those two. Especially because Mello seemed hell bent to find the kid who got Matt sick so he could get sick as well.

"But it's not fair!"

* * *

><p><strong>Monkey: Yucky. I remember being even worse off than Matt. Stayed home and everything, first time missing school because of a coldcough. D:**

**Luckily I'm feeling just about 100% :DD Which means I'll update this again really soon.**

**Hopefully xD **


	6. Light's Sick Day

**Monkey: So this chapter is dedicated to DarkAngelJudas who suggested that I make Light sick. Lol, I wasn't going to do it because I did want to portray Light as the "invincible" parent, but then the idea wouldn't leave me alone and I was like "ah, what the hell, I'll do it." And I did.**

**Don't think it came out that well, but that could be because I was doing 4 different homework assignments at once while trying to work on this. None of them went very well. ;_;**

**Hope you like it n.n**

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><p>Near, Mello and Matt were aware of what an amazing daddy they had. Hell, they even knew how amazing their dad was. But it was their daddy that they saw as being the perfect parent. Taking on the roles of both mother and father, though more often mother, and taking care of all of them, even L. L was the one keeping them in their place though, since he wasn't vulnerable to anyone's puppy eyes except Light's, or so they said. The kids had never seen Light display any kind of puppy eyes.<p>

Anyway, their "mommy" was invincible. Nothing could bring him down.

Seriously, he even treated Matt when he was at his most contagious and Matt was now reduced to a sniffly child. All in all, there was nothing Light couldn't do.

"You will fall, go back to bed," L said to the brunette attempting to walk down the stairs.

Attempting because he was slowly walking down the stairs while supporting himself on the wall as his hand massaged his temples. His face was a little pale and his nose and cheeks were tinged with pink.

"Daddy!" the kids called out.

Mello reached over and smacked Matt's head while Near kicked him under the table.

"Ow! What?" Matt asked, rubbing the places he was hit. He sniffled and pouted.

"You got daddy sick, asshole," Mello said.

"Mello," Light coughed, "language."

L, who was right behind Light, reached forward in time to catch the brunette after he swayed slightly. "Get back into bed. I will take care of things."

L moved down a step to be at level with Light and the brunette leaned into him. "Mmm… No, I need to make us breakfast." He closed his eyes and breathed tiredly.

The raven looked over at the kids and motioned with a slight moving of his head to the kitchen.

"We got it covered daddy," Mello announced. He hopped off his seat and the other two followed, going into the kitchen.

"Ow!" Mello just hit Matt's head again. Then smacked him a couple more times for good measure.

Near lifted a hand up and flicked the redhead on the nose.

"Stop picking on me, I'm sorry!" He rushed over to the brunette and took a hold of his hand. "I'm so sorry daddy, I didn't mean for you to get sick."

Light opened his eyes and gave a weak smile. "Don't worry Matt, I'll be fine soon."

"I will get you to bed and then we will bring your breakfast up." L told him, helping Light turn around and wrapping an arm around his waist to keep him steady.

Together they went back up the stairs and the kids could hear Light sniffling all the way up.

"Way to go Game Boy," Mello sneered, crossing his arms over his chest. "You got him sick."

"I didn't mean to!" Matt sneezed. "I really didn't, I even told him to stay away from me."

"He's our daddy, he wouldn't stay away when one of us is in need." Near commented, holding a small brown teddy bear and making it move around like it was shooting lasers at the redhead.

"I have an idea," Mello began.

"You want us to really prove which one daddy loves the most by having us all take care of him in his time of need," Near finished.

"Argh! You brat! You didn't let me say it!" The blonde reached over and tried to take the albino's bear but Near dodged him and stepped behind Matt who came to join them.

"Let's try not to fight today and help take care of him," Matt spoke, trying to prevent another argument.

"Fine." And they called a tentative truce for the day.

… Sort of.

L came back down the stairs and stood in front of them. "We should get him some soup. Is there any leftover from yesterday?"

The redhead went into the kitchen and opened the fridge. After half a minute of looking around, he closed the door. "No, I guess I ate it all yesterday."

Mello punched his arm. "You just _had_ to eat, didn't you?"

Matt pouted and rubbed his arm. "Ouch. It's not a big deal, I can make something."

This even got L's attention. "You can cook?"

Near and Mello each stared at him, getting close to his face. Matt's eyes widened a bit as he stepped back to avoid being in their immediate areas.

"Why?" The two asked.

Matt fought a blush. "I… watch him cook a lot. And a chicken soup is simple."

He avoided all three gazes.

"I will _so_ use that as blackmail later on." Mello stated.

They got to work and made the soup. L was the one to carry it up to Light who was sleeping. The only reason L was the one carrying the soup was because the three kids fought over who would take it up and ended up spilling an entire bowl.

"Technically, shouldn't I be the only one near him?" Matt sniffled, as the three of them stood under the threshold to the master bedroom. "I'm the one that got him sick and I'm pretty much fine, so the cold won't get me again."

"And let you take all the credit? Hell no." Mello said.

L set the bowl of soup down on the desk by their bed and gently shook Light awake. Dazed caramel eyes looked up at him. "Light, we brought you some food."

Light looked like he was about to sneeze, so L quickly handed him a tissue. The brunette sneezed into it and sighed. "You guys shouldn't be in here; everyone will get sick."

"You're always the one to take care of us," Near began. He saw Mello was about to cut him off so he shoved his teddy bear's paw into the blonde's mouth to stop him. The blonde narrowed his eyes dangerously at him. Near was sure their parents couldn't see what he did. "So we wanted to return the favor."

They were lucky it was a Saturday which gave them the chance to be at home. It also helped that Light had Saturdays off. Most of the time anyway. It was weird, because Light had an odd work schedule. L's was even weirder.

Light smiled at them and let L help him sit up in bed after the raven fluffed some pillows.

They sat around in silence as they watched Light slowly eat the soup, then stop when he was about halfway done.

From seemingly out of nowhere, L pulled out a bottle of medicine that looked different from the one Matt had yesterday.

_Yuck… At least mine was kids medicine so it doesn't taste extremely horrible. But that one… that's for adults. That stuff is nasty._

Matt's thoughts were confirmed when Light's eyes widened a fraction at seeing the medicine before shaking his head and attempting to inch away from L.

"You will not avoid the medicine. You need it to get better."

"Yeah daddy," Matt chimed in, remembering how the same thing happened to him.

Light was defeated. There was no way he could turn down the medicine lest he set a bad example for the kids. He hesitantly opened his mouth after seeing L pour the correct amount of that black, vile liquid.

He swallowed it and cringed. Unlike Matt, he could still taste pretty well. And that shit was disgusting. He pouted pathetically and L gave him a spoonful of soup to chase the bad taste away.

The kids watched as their dad climbed into bed with Light who immediately clutched onto him. Seeing the way Light's head was leaning more towards one side, L could tell that the brunette felt his head was all stuffed up and had a headache.

"Why are you allowed to be that close to him?" Mello asked, seeing as how L had told them to stay away.

"Because. I do not get sick." He let Light hold his shirt until he was comfortable.

"That's impossible. Everyone gets sick."

L smirked. "I have never been sick a day in my life."

And Light knew that. Which was the only reason why he allowed him to come near him when he was like this. L let Light rest his head on his chest. He turned his head to the side to cough weakly. "I am the best person to have around when someone is sick. I will help them get better and in the process, I do not have to worry about getting sick."

Light, even in his ill state, rolled his eyes.

L looked over at the kids. "Here is an idea, the three of you should go take care of your chores and clean up the mess that happened in the kitchen, and we give Light some time to rest. We will come back later with more soup and medicine."

Normally, the kids hated doing chores but today, they wanted to make their daddy happy. Especially after seeing him look at them with hopeful eyes.

"Out of my way!"

"Let me do mine first!"

"I will wait for the two of you to kill each other on the stairs and then take over."

"You little runt!"

Light curled more into L. "I shouldn't be sick, I'm the one that's supposed to take care of you guys." His voice came out barely above a whisper.

"And you should let us take care of you too."

Cue several crashes, a few yells, a couple of curse words and some laughter.

Light groaned. L placed a finger under Light's chin to lift his head up enough so he could lean down and kiss him. "Ignore them, maybe they will go away."

Light chuckled as best as he could. "They won't."

"I know. But we can pretend."

* * *

><p><strong>Monkey: Uh... Ick. At the ending. OTL<strong>

**Well, sorry if that sucked, but I tried... **

**And if anyone has any suggestions for I'm the Favorite, throw 'em at me. I even have a lot of filler chapters in here cuz this family is fun to play around with. And whatever I don't use here (like, solely cute and fluffy moments between the family) will go into the final installment of the "Death Note Family Series." Lol which I'll get around to... I dunno when. Lol.**

**Well, thank you for reading! Sorry the AN's were longer than the story! ^^;**


	7. Tonight, Couch

**Monkey: And now I finally reveal what Light's job is. Lol. Had a bit of fun with this one. **

* * *

><p>"Oh Light," a bubbly blonde called out in a sing-song voice. "You've got fans at table six."<p>

She giggled when the brunette paled briefly before asking, "… Girls?"

And a part of her wanted to lie just to see the look of horror spread across his face. But of course, the other, less cruel side won out and she nodded.

"Oh thank God," Light breathed out a sigh of relief.

"I wouldn't count yourself out so fast," a smiling raven began. "Table nine. Four guys. Enjoy."

Light mentally cried. It wasn't fair! His job wasn't very demanding and he liked what he did, but he cursed his popularity. His devastatingly (oh look, he's so modest!) good looks got him fans from both genders. Both were plenty psychotic, but it was his _fanboys _that got to him.

Well, not exactly. It was the insane paranoia that followed him every painful moment that one day, while he was entertaining his male fans, L would walk in, get mad and take the kids away. It was an irrational fear he knew (because he doubted L would ever take the kids… For more reasons than one…) but he couldn't help it.

Light put on a bright smile, lightly raking his hand through his soft locks to mess them up slightly. Misa and Kiyomi constantly told him to stop doing that simple gesture because it only brought him more fans, but it was a bit of a habit. He took in a deep breath and walked into the "jungle."

Whispers, giggles and squeals assaulted his ears the moment their clients saw him. Misa and Kiyomi bit back a laugh. Most would think they'd be jealous of all the attention Light received, but that wasn't the case at all. They each had their own fanbase as well, but seeing how _psychotic_ and _hyper_ Light's fans could get, they were happy not to be him. The interaction Light and his fans had was very amusing to watch. Plus that characteristic flush of embarrassment that spread across his cheeks every time his fans called out for him was just adorable.

So adorable in fact, Misa had taken a picture of him before and gave a copy to L.

And yes, Light was completely unaware of this picture's existence.

"Hello," Light greeted politely to the table of girls. "What would you like today?"

The girls giggled shyly. A raven cleared her throat before speaking.

"I'd like a slice of chocolate cake, please."

"I'd like some blueberry cheesecake."

"I would love a slice of red velvet cake."

"I want a slice of strawberry shortcake."

Light wrote down their orders. "And to drink?"

"Water for four," the first raven replied.

Light nodded. He kept his smile on his face even though being around giggling high school girls made him a little nervous. "Anything else?"

The four girls grinned at each other before turning to Light and asking, "Can we take you to go?"

Light looked down, his face heating up. Why were teenage girls so straightforward? He could have died of embarrassment when he noticed the rest of the restaurant was chuckling at him.

A blonde head popped up beside Light. "Sorry girls, he's already taken." She grinned.

"Yes. By me."

_Oh _no... _I know that voice…_

Light hesitantly turned to look at the origin of the voice. He almost closed his eyes to briefly pray that he wouldn't be… Met with L's curious gaze only a few feet away. "L?" he choked out.

Three heads popped up from behind L. "Daddy!"

_Ohmygod._

Misa brought a finger to her lips as she stepped away from them, watching on curiously. Kiyomi stepped up beside her, watching this unprecedented turn of events.

_I guess I should count myself lucky. At least L didn't catch me serving my male fans._

Everyone except the two waitresses stared at the raven in shock.

_He_ scored _Light Yagami,_ sexiest of all the sex gods out there? _And_ they had kids? How did that happen?

Their thoughts were interrupted when they all noted how adorable Light looked while being suddenly hugged by three little kids.

The girls pouted. Of course, Light was too perfect to be straight.

But that's okay, because they were extremely loyal fans and would from now on lead the "LxLight" fanclub!

Something told Light he wasn't going to be off the hook by his fans. In fact, something told him that the worst was yet to come. But seriously, how much more devoted and scary could his fans get?

L walked over to him curious as the kids stepped to the side.

"Ten bucks dad wins this," Mello whispered as the kids stepped to the side. Matt and Near glanced at each other.

"I say it ends in a draw," Matt commented.

"Daddy will win."

Light didn't meet L's eyes. L knew that he was a waiter at a very popular café where there specialty was sweets (thankfully he brought him some sweets every so often) and he knew that Light was popular. But this kind of popularity is not what L was expecting.

"You are highly popular."

"… Yes."

"They flirt with you?" L brought his thumb to his mouth and stared at Light inquiringly.

"Oh all the time! You wouldn't believe what some of these people say to him, like—" Kiyomi placed a hand over Misa's mouth to prevent her from continuing.

L walked towards Light and stopped until there were only a few inches of space between them. "I do not mind, as long as they are aware that you are mine." And he brought a hand up to bring Light's face closer to his so he could kiss him.

Several girls squealed and some were already taking pictures.

It was bad enough that Light didn't like public displays of affection in front of their kids, now it was in front of his fans, kids _and_ his coworkers?

He was doomed.

Doomed!

L pulled away leaving Light red-faced and embarrassed beyond repair. This is exactly why he never wanted L to come by, because either he would take the kids away from him, or he would pull a stunt like this!  
>That reminded him. "L, <em>what<em> are you doing here?"

"I cannot randomly decide to bring the kids over to your job so we can see you?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because you're not random. You hate random. You've spent hours in the past trying to describe how the laws of randomness don't apply to you."

"Ah. You know me so well." He stepped back so he could look at the kids. "Who wants to stay?"

"_L_." Light warned. If they stayed, he couldn't be held responsible for what could end up happening.

"Oh I do!" The kids happily said.

L stared at Light. "You wouldn't deny them anything."

The brunette attempted to keep staring at L then gave up and looked away. "No I wouldn't." He glanced at the two girls. "Can you guys—"

"Already on it Light!" They grinned and raced to the kitchen.

It was then that Light noticed he was being watched by every single person there. His face grew warm. He took in a shaky breath and looked back at L. "Tonight, couch."

Knowing L understood him, he walked away, satisfied that he had kind of gotten back at him.

Near walked over to L and looked up at him, serious, and said, "I will bring you some stuffed animals to keep you company."

Half of the café squealed at how adorable the smallest boy was and were already texting people and posting on social networking sites about the "LxLight Fanclub", their kids, and how they were _so_ going to come back again really soon.

The three workers heard the chaos outside the kitchen. Light stopped in front of a wall and leaned against it, bringing a hand up to cover his face.

Misa giggled while Kiyomi chuckled at him.

"It's not funny."

"Oh yeah it is. I think your fanbase increased."

Light peeked at them around his fingers. "No," he began in horror.

"Oh! I can check!" Misa pulled out her phone and quickly typed on it. Seconds later, she lit up with a smile. "Yup! According to the official Light Yagami website—"

"The _what_?"

"—Which has now been renamed to the official LxLight website—"

"_What?_"

"—Your fanbase has now doubled." Misa concluded cheerfully.

Kiyomi walked over to Light who paled again. She patted him on the shoulder. "At least he'll sleep on the couch tonight."

"And every night for the next century."

Outside, L felt a shiver run through him.

Near noticed and looked at Mello and Matt. "Told you daddy would win."

* * *

><p><strong>Monkey: So, how many of you guys guessed that he was waiter? Didn't sound like it at first, did it? Lol.<strong>

**And yes, this was a filler chapter.**

**I'll hopefully see you guys real soon :D**


	8. A Day with Aunty Sayu

**Monkey: Well... I haven't forgotten about this fic, honest, I've just been out doing a lot of stuff lately. Life has finally started to catch up to me and it's given me little time to update.**

**But, I hope I still have readers for this fic n.n;**

**Hope you like it!**

* * *

><p>"Light, we should go out on a date."<p>

The brunette, who was in the middle of washing the dishes, paused for a moment to regard the raven haired man with an odd look before returning to his previous task. "What brought this up?"

"It has been a while since our last date," L pointed out. He walked up behind Light and wrapped his arms around his waist causing Light to freeze and nearly drop a plate.

"As I recall, our last date didn't go so well," Light backed up into L calmly and leaned against him, placing the plate down. His wet hands gripped the edge of the sink.

"That is only because we had to take the little monsters with us."

Light chuckled. While normally he would scold L for calling their kids monsters, he remembers that date and remembers the hell the kids inadvertently put them through. Almost like real monsters.

"Still, you know I don't like leaving them at home, even with a sitter."

Of course L knew, everywhere they went, Light insisted on bringing the kids. And he wouldn't take no for an answer.

This especially started happening when rumors about the "monster" children spread and no local sitters wanted to sit them. Even with a large payment increase offering.

It was tempting, but their original fear of the kids made them decline every time.

"I have that figured out. They can spend the day with Sayu."

"And have them end up on the FBI's most wanted list by the end of the night? I don't think so," Light spoke, going back to the dishes.

The three kids who were eavesdropping this whole time made their presence known.

"We'll be good!" Matt said as they ran to the sink.

"Yeah, Aunty Sayu is really cool!" Mello grabbed the back of the redhead's shirt to keep him from colliding with L and Light.

"You two should spend some time alone," Near commented, coming up beside Light and looking up at him. "It could do you some good."

The brunette was touched their kids cared so much about them. He moved around a bit out of L's grasp and dried his hands on the side of his jeans. "Are you sure you want to spend the night with Sayu?" He walked around L and kneeled down to their level.

The three nodded. "We'll be ok."

And now Light just wanted to find an excuse. Anything, really. Just something that could keep him at home. No matter how much he wanted to go on a date with L, he knew his love for the kids would make him want to bring them along. Or not even leave them in the first place.

"Great. I will call Sayu then," L replied, bringing Light out of his reverie.

"Wait. Are we sure this is a good idea? We have plenty of time to go out some other day..." Light trailed off as he searched for some kind of excuse. "Matt did just get sick, maybe we should stay and keep an eye on him?"

L put his cell phone away. When had he even pulled it out? "Too late. I have already contacted Sayu. She will be on her way in a few hours so we can go out at night."

"But Matt—" Light began.

"Is fine," L finished.

Light stood up and faced L. He averted his gaze downward. "Well, _I_ did just get sick and—"

"You have recovered. Quite nicely I might add."

Light blushed in defeat.

"Light, I am starting to think you are looking for excuses to avoid going out tonight." The raven haired man pointed out.

"What? No..."

"Yes." Three children chirped in.

Light looked at them. "But I don't want to leave you alone."

"They will not be alone, they will have Sayu." L said.

"Yeah, dad's right. We'll be fine," Mello spoke on behalf of the three. The other two nodded.

"Don't you worry about us, just go have fun," Matt said. It was then Light noticed the lack of game system in his hands. It was surprising and Light was about to point that out as an excuse to have more family time now that Matt wasn't glued to a game screen, but the other four wouldn't let him.

"We'll call you if we need you," Near added.

Light looked around at his family before giving in and nodding. "Alright."

* * *

><p>A few hours later, the sun was starting to set. According to L, the two would be out for most of the night, leaving them in Sayu's care until they came back home early in the morning.<p>

Light would've preferred having a date during the day and coming back before the kids' bedtime, but this was something L planned suddenly. The brunette had to admit, he kind of missed doing things from spur-of-the-moment plans.

A doorbell interrupted the current silence of the house as Light and L got ready. Well as Light got ready, because L claimed he was just fine.

Near went and opened the door. "Hello Aunty Sayu."

"Near! Aww, aren't you so adorable? Come here!" She spread her arms out wide and leaned forward to pick up Near in a giant hug. She spun him around and held him tightly, grinning widely. "You're just the cutest thing ever! Can I take you home and keep you forever?"

"No way, he's mine," Light spoke as he walked down the stairs to greet his younger sister. "Get your own." He said playfully as she stopped spinning his son around and handed him to the taller brunette. "Hi Sayu."

"Hey bro, lookin' good. I assume you're dolling yourself up for some sexy time later, huh?" She winked at him as she walked in and hugged her older brother.

"Nonsense, I'm not getting 'all dolled up,'" Light rolled his eyes, fighting back a slight blush.

Sayu pulled back a bit to run her hand over her brothers hair. "Hair products. Making your hair look wild, yet tamed, daring, yet sexy. Clothes that reveal just enough but not too much. I like it." She grinned.

"As do I," L said, walking down the stairs to join them. Matt and Mello trailed after him.

The trio knew they were lessening their chances for proving who the favorite was on their own by having Light and L go on a date, but maybe they could bring up their favorite factor altogether.

Light placed Near down and looked at L's outfit. "L..." Light began.

"I think it is time we get going," L said, cutting off the brunette so he wouldn't have to go back upstairs and find something to change to.

Really, what did Light care what they were wearing now? They wouldn't be wearing their clothes all night.

A small shiver went up Light's spine. He somehow knew what L was thinking, especially looking at him with _those _eyes. _Oh no, not tonight. I'm still a little sore from last night._ Not that he would tell him that of course…"Well Sayu, we're going to head out now, please, if you need anything don't hesitate to call."

"Please hesitate to call. Only call if it is a true emergency. Like death." L corrected. He walked over to Light and began to lead him to the front door.

"Ignore him. I want them in bed by ten. Make sure they've had their dinner, they wash up, keep them from killing each other and—"

L pushed him out of the door. "Goodbye."

He closed the door behind him and the four left behind grinned.

"Alright, where are my pictures?" Sayu asked, smiling, turning around to face the three munchkins.

"That depends, where's our money?" Mello asked, looking cocky.

Sayu smirked. "Yeah, you learned from the best alright." She pulled out a wad of cash from her purse and made to hand it to Mello who reached out for it. At the last second, she waved her hand in a circle and instead gave the money to Near.

They were only hundred dollar bills.

Near counted them quickly and nodded to the blonde. The oldest kid went upstairs for a minute before coming back down with a manila envelope in his hands.

Sayu opened it and briefly skimmed through its contents. "I see everything's in order." She grinned before putting the envelope into her purse. "Alrighty then! What do you all want to do?"

"I vote for smores!"

"Chocolate covered strawberries!"

"Food."

Sayu loved spending time with her nephews, especially when they worked together so she could go and update the LxLight official website with super cute pictures about her favorite couple. Not just cute pictures of course, but the more _interesting_ pictures for the yaoi fangirls. Those cost a lot more too. But that was alright, she was making so much money with that website, including selling a bunch of LxLight merchandise.

"Then let's go to the kitchen!"

* * *

><p>Light stared at the menu in front of him. He just couldn't seem to focus on the large variety of food in front of him. It was a nice restaurant too, nothing too extravagant, yet not anywhere near fast-food quality.<p>

"Light, are you not enjoying yourself?"

Caramel eyes met obsidian ones. "I am, it's just…"

"You are thinking of the children." L set his menu down. He already knew what he was going to order. "Light, they will be fine, this will only be for a few hours and they will be safe with Sayu."

The brunette sighed. "I know but, I can't help it. You know I don't like being away from them."

"How did you manage when they all started going to school again?"

"I didn't. You actually knocked me out for the first few days they had school or daycare."

L ignored the pointed look sent in his direction. "Of course. Chloroform was my friend." Light rolled his eyes. "Anyway Light, please try to reduce your worry about the kids and try having a good time with me, alright?"

L placed his hand over Light's from across the table. Neither cared if people saw and commented on it, they were happy together and that was all that mattered. Light smiled.

"Ok, you're right. I'll try. What are you going to order?"

"Every dessert on the menu."

"…"

"…"

"Absolutely not. You're going to get fat. Or worse."

"Nonsense."

"L…"

"Hello, I will be your waiter for the night, what would you like to order?"

The two hardly registered the man that came up to them and settled for staring at each other before speaking.

"We'll start off with a salad." Light ordered.

"Not unless it has my weight in sugar."

"He'll take his without any dressing." Light spoke cheerfully, turning to face the waiter who stared at how handsome he was for a moment before writing down the order.

"But Light, without the dressing, the salad tastes horrible."

"Exactly."

Light turned back to look at the raven, eyes challenging.

"Fine. I will just have to change my plans a bit for later." It was brief, but L smirked.

There went that shiver again. Oh boy, Light was going to regret this one in the morning.

* * *

><p>"Alright you little demons, where are you?" Sayu called out as she explored the large house. She regretted giving them so much sugar, but they were just so cute with those puppy eyes and how cuddly they were, she just couldn't help it!<p>

A water balloon flew passed her and hit the wall inches beside her head.

"Holy shit." Sayu breathed in deeply, bringing a hand over her chest to calm her heart. Ok, so maybe it had also been a bad idea to bring water balloons, but she had no idea they'd go through her purse to find any goodies while she was busy making them dinner. Which consisted of lots of sugary treats of course.

Light could kill her later, for now it was time to hide as a wave of water balloons suddenly went flying towards her.

She hid behind a door and felt it get hit with a few exploding balloons. "Well played! I've taught you well!"

Maybe this was why Light never wanted her to babysit?

A few more balloons exploded and when she felt the coast was clear, she made a run for it into the room closest to her.

The kids' room.

She had a wide, shit-eating grin on her face.

Nah, Light just didn't want the kids to have too much fun.

Oh, this was going to be _so_ entertaining.

* * *

><p>Light stopped while cutting into his slice of strawberry cheesecake. An odd feeling ran up his spine. L glanced at him from his chocolate fudge cake. Not slice, <em>cake<em>.

"Mommy senses?"

"Shut up. And yes."

"Relax, it is almost their bedtime, I am sure your mommy senses are off for once."

Neither of them believed that, but Light and L continued their dessert because they were sure whatever was going on, Sayu was more than capable of handling it.

They hoped.

* * *

><p><em>Ok, it's well past their bedtime, Light is gonna kill me,<em> Sayu thought as she ran out of the house to chase down the three kids that ran away while she took a quick bathroom break.

She was in five inch stilettos, but that didn't stop her from running fast. Her heels clicked loudly in the night as she ran up and down the streets. It was around midnight and the kids still had a lot of energy.

_I guess it's true what they say, it's all fun and games until the kids run away._

She ran all the way to the park near the house and nearly cheered when she saw three little kids playing on the swings and the jungle gym.

She slowed down and walked ever so quietly. It was like one of those animal shows, where the prey is playing around, unknowing of what awaits them as the predator silently creeps up to them.

Sayu dived behind a tree when the tallest of the kids stopped playing and looked over in her general direction. She couldn't hear anything, but she assumed the other two noticed something was off as well. It was thanks to the streetlights she could see them a little bit, but she hoped they couldn't see her.

Slowly, she looked over her shoulder to glance at the jungle gym.

No one.

The swings.

Empty.

"Ah, shit," she whispered.

"Hi Aunty Sayu!" the three chorused from above her and she nearly screamed as she looked up and saw the three were all sitting in the tree branches above her.

_Light, L, I wish you two luck when these kids grow up._

* * *

><p>Light shivered again as he and L walked around the park with the small lake L took them to.<p>

"Again?"

"Yes, but it was like a feeling that things'll be even worse when they're older." Light reached out for L's hand and held it tightly.

"Of course they will be. They are our kids after all."

Light wasn't sure L meant that last part in a good way or not.

Light and L stood outside their front door. Before the brunette reached for his keys, L took a hold of his hand. Caramel eyes looked up and Light smiled.

"Yes?"

"Did you enjoy yourself?"

Despite the initial disaster when they were ordering food, everything went pretty smoothly. Even with all the mommy senses going off, Light still managed to focus on L, just for today of course.

He had honestly forgotten what it was like to go out like this.

The walk in the park where they just spent time together, talking and feeling like they did a few years back when they first realized their love for each other, and then the other house they went to for some sexy time…

And now they were back and it was over. For a while at least. Light loved his family and wouldn't trade them for the world, but this had been a very enjoyable night. Simple, but romantic. It surprised him, actually.

"I did."

"Good, because I get the feeling this will not happen again for a few more years."

Light chuckled, sadly agreeing with him.

He opened the door and saw a dark house. He honestly expected the Gates of Hell to have opened in the living room, spewing out demons left and right.

He hesitantly reached for the light switch with L behind him.

The living room was illuminated brightly.

Nothing. Not a mess, no blood, no Gates of Hell.

No children.

Or Sayu.

"Suspicious," L commented, bringing his thumb up to his mouth as he closed and locked the door behind them.

"Very." Light agreed. They quietly walked into the house and noticed the time on the clock hanging on the wall.

Two-fifteen in the morning.

Not too bad, and if the silence of the house was anything to go by, the kids and Sayu, should've already been in bed hours ago.

He tiptoed up the stairs with L walking behind him cautiously. They turned on the hallway light as they headed to the left. They walked to the kids' room and saw the door was closed.

Light placed his hand on the doorknob and looked back at L.

_Should I really look in there? What if I don't like what I see?_ Light asked with his eyes.

_Better than not knowing._ L had a point.

The door silently opened.

Matt and Mello were sleeping peacefully on their respective beds and seemed to have knocked out hours ago.

Over in Near's bed was Near who was curled up with Sayu who seemed dead to the world.

Light momentarily stared at the stilettos by Near's bed and shook his head. He would never know how she could walk in those.

"They look so cute, so calm and peaceful," Light whispered. Looks like for once, his mommy senses had been wrong. There wasn't anything to worry about!

L stared for a while longer. _Sayu's purse is still with her. And her shoes make it seem like they were placed there to throw us off. Their breathing is not slow enough to by fully asleep. They just recently went to bed._ Ah, but he wouldn't ruin Light's image of his angelic family.

"No one called the cops, I think that's a plus," Light continued. "Maybe we should go out more often?" He lightly closed the door and walked towards their room with a big smile on his face.

L stuck around a little longer and her some shuffling in the kids' room and some whispers about how they were safe and they somehow managed to pull it off.

L smirked. He wouldn't tell Light, but that didn't mean he wouldn't let the kids know he knew their secret. "Yes Light, we should go out more often."

* * *

><p><strong>Monkey: So yeah! There's the newest chapter lol. I had fun writing this xD<strong>

**Thanks for all the feedback I've been getting! If it weren't for you guys, this story would've taken even longer to get updated lol.**

**Hopefully I'll see you guys in another chapter really soon!**


	9. Visiting Matsuda

**Monkey: Well! It's been a while, hasn't it? This chapter will be short because it's been a long time and I have to get back into my fanfic writing zone.. Lol. So I was busy most of the summer and now college has been kicking my ass, but that's ok, I've been writing during some of my classes and I will have new stories uploaded really soon!**

**Hope you like it! I'm still not owning anything, otherwise there would be a lot of family moments with L, Light and the three kids on the show lol.**

* * *

><p>"Light! L! And the adorable three! Hi!" A cheerful man greeted as soon as he opened the door. He kneeled down and spread his arms out for a big hug.<p>

Mello and Near exchanged glances and walked quietly into the house, around Matsuda's expecting arms. Matt, who was completely engrossed in his game, simply walked around Matsuda following Mello's lead.

Matsuda pouted, feeling unloved. He dropped his arms and looked at Light and L with watery eyes.

L walked passed him as well and headed straight for the kitchen to raid the pantry for any sweets.

Light smiled apologetically at Matsuda who sighed dejectedly. He walked to the pouting man who stood up and gave him a hug to make up for the previous lack of love. "Hello Matsuda, it's good to see you."

Light easily ignored the intent stare coming from L in the kitchen and patted Matsuda's back.

"So Matsuda, how have you been?" Light asked as he pulled away from him and stepped inside to the house.

The now happy raven closed the door behind him as he welcomed the family into his house. He had a history with Light and L since Matsuda worked for the investigations department so he often worked with L and many times came when Light joined them. This was back when those two were in high school. L still considered him a bit of an idiot, but Light was nicer and saw him like an uncle for him and the kids.

"I've been great! Even better with your visit! How have you all been? Have you had lunch?"

"We've been doing as good as well, though there have been some mishaps lately," Light glanced at the kids who feigned innocence and didn't meet his stare. "At least no one has made it to the hospital or the six o'clock news."

L came out of the kitchen holding a couple chocolate bars, one for him and one for Mello. "That was one time, we promise not to accidentally blow up the house again while you are away visiting your parents."

"Still, you four nearly put me into cardiac arrest when I saw _my _house in flames on the news while I was eating dinner. I was only gone for like four hours!"

"Next time, you should take us all."

"You _insisted_ I could leave the four of you alone for half a day."

"Obviously, we have all learned otherwise."

Matsuda looked back and forth between the two and laughed slightly. Honestly, they still sometimes acted like the times when they weren't dating. He figured this was their version of flirting with each other.

The blonde looked smug as he accepted the chocolate but Near rolled his eyes and looked passed Mello at the brunette, reminding him who they were trying to prove was the favorite with.

"And no, we haven't had lunch yet," Light finished, turning to look at Matsuda.

Matsuda grinned. "Well that's great, I was just going to make lunch, we can all eat together!"

The man was a happy bomb and it made L question the man's sanity. Then again, he wasn't really one to talk, especially with the family he had. But no one should be that happy all the time. It creeped him out.

Without the adults noticing, the kids perked up at the thought of food. Another chance to prove who was the favorite.

Light decided to make fruit smoothies for everyone while Matsuda made lunch. The kids made sure to order a drink different than the one Light was having.

L joined the kids on the couch as the other two made lunch. "I was thinking of taking Light out again one of these days. This time, would you all go to sleep on time?" It was hardly a question.

The kids froze.

Near regained his composure quickly. "What do you mean? We went to bed when we were supposed to. Aunty Sayu tucked us in." Mello and Matt nodded in agreement.

"If you tell me truth, things will go much easier."

Ah, who were they kidding? L made up the three best detectives in the world. L's IQ was scary high. He was observant as hell too. They themselves were learning from the best.

And Light? He was incredibly smart as well but...

"Light just wants to believe that his children are angels, instead of the little demons you really are." L stated, almost like he was reading their minds.

Sadly, the kids had to agree.

"Ok dad," the three finally said.

L nodded. "Good." He stood up and walked towards the kitchen where he could hear Light and Matsuda talking happily. L paused a couple steps before the threshold of the kitchen and looked back at his kids who were looking at him. "Going to bed like good little kids will help in proving who is the favorite." L smirked and walked into the kitchen.

Holy shit.

Matt paused his game and the three kids shared an uneasy glance. He knew about that too?

Well of course he did, he was L after all, but if he knew, then did Light know?

Did L tell Light?

"Kids!" Light called out from the kitchen.

They paled. Oh crap. Oh crap. Oh crap.

This was it; they were going to be in so much trouble. Light hated it when the kids were busy competing with each other. Sure he knew that a little competition was good for everyone, especially considering the past he had with L before they started dating, but he felt that his kids competed too much because they were always trying to prove who was the smartest or who was best at doing certain things.

Light always told them that having that much competition in their lives wasn't good for them.

And now he was going to lecture them and ground them. And between him and L, Light surprisingly gave the worst punishments, because L didn't care if they broke their groundings, but Light knew where to hit them. That's why they constantly tried their best to be good kids when Light was around.

They slowly made their way to the kitchen and stood just outside of it. Light was working at the counter and he turned around to look at them. He smiled.

"I made your smoothies, go take them to the table. Lunch will be ready soon." Behind him, the kids could see three smoothies on the counter, each different and personalized.

It looks like they were safe for another day.

Mello was the first to step in and picked up his mango-banana smoothie with bits of chocolate sprinkled in it and a red straw. He carefully walked out of the kitchen and to the dinner table. Matt stepped in next and picked up his apple-kiwi-blueberry smoothie with an apple slice on the glass and a green straw. He followed Mello out and took a seat beside him. Near finally walked in and Light handed him his strawberry-banana smoothie with a purple straw, the only normal drink ordered by them.

"Be careful," Light reminded while ruffling Near's hair. Just before Near turned around, he caught L's gaze. Their daddy may be scary as hell when he's really mad sometimes, but it was their dad they needed to watch out for, he wasn't as innocent as Light was. Especially now that he knew about their competition.

Near walked out and took a spot beside Matt. The three kids stayed silent while the three adults talked in the kitchen.

"That was too close," Matt finally spoke, continuing with his game. He lazily sipped at his smoothie as the other two started talking as well.

"There's only a couple days left to this thing anyway, maybe we can get done with it before daddy even notices what's going on," Mello said, using his straw to aim for the bits of chocolate in it. His drink may scare away others, but he really liked it.

"Unlikely. If dad knows, then either it's only a matter of time before daddy finds out, or they're letting us play this out," Near added, swirling his straw around the drink before finally sipping at it.

Would their parents really torture them like this?

Yes, yes they would.

Light came out with his own smoothie and the kids looked at it. It was a strawberry-watermelon-grape combination. Matsuda and L came behind him carrying some plates filled with food for the kids. The kids were too busy staring their daddy's smoothie.

Light noticed this. He smiled at them. "Would you like to try it?"

L made a face. Light's smoothies may have been popular with the kids, but they were hardly sweet so L didn't particularly like them. He did however like the chocolate milkshake Light made for him though, but he wasn't about to let the kids try his drink.

Near, being the closest, reached out for the smoothie and tried some. Light didn't mind sharing his food with his kids and just went back towards the kitchen with Matsuda to bring out the rest of their lunch.

When Near finished, Mello snatched it from him before Near could set it back down. The process repeated when Mello was done and the smoothie was taken by Matt.

L watched them as Light and Matsuda were too busy arguing about who was going to be doing the dishes later. L was amused. Very amused. He would let this play out until their little competition was over and just enjoy the ride.

He wondered if Light knew what was going on. Normally he would tell him things like this, because Light hated it when there were secrets amongst the family, but this time L was going to feign ignorance. Then he would later face a very scary punishment once Light figured out what was going on.

It seemed to work well enough in this family.

By the time Matsuda and Light finally decided that they would both do the dishes after lunch, they walked out to the dining room and Light looked at the kids who tried to look innocent.

He raised a brow. His smoothie was finished. The three kids were stuffing their faces to avoid looking at him as he set his own plate down.

"Alright, which one of you finished my drink?" He shook his head slightly with a hidden smile. He wasn't mad at them, he thought it was cute that they drank all of his smoothie because it reminded him of back when they were tiny toddlers and were always fighting to eat whatever he was eating, or steal his drinks. The only time when Mello drank something that didn't have chocolate in it when he was a toddler, was when he would steal Light's apple juice or his strawberry milk. It was the cutest thing to see because he always thought he was being all sneaky about it.

Pretty much the same thing happened with Matt and Near during their toddler age, and Light couldn't believe how adorable it was. Though he always wondered why they never went after L's things.

Near pointed at Matt, Matt pointed at Mello and Mello pointed at Near.

Matsuda chuckled behind the brunette. The kids were so adorable. "There's some tea in the fridge if you want that."

Light nodded. "That works."

And while he was gone, L looked at the three kids. "I have seen better."

They lowered their heads and continued eating. Matsuda didn't understand what he meant, but then again, he hardly ever understood what the detective was saying.

Once Light came back, the adults joined the kids and started eating.

"So Light, how is Sayu doing?" Matsuda struck up a conversation.

"She's…" Light couldn't find the right words. "Doing. She's still going to college and surprisingly she's still single."

"It is not surprising," L commented. Sure Sayu was beautiful, but come on, she was completely psychotic. "It is a good thing, because then that means she will not spawn out mini Sayus to terrorize the world."

Light rolled his eyes. "She isn't that bad."

"You two make up the scariest brother-sister pair I have ever seen in my life."

"You're talking about that one time back when we were in college, aren't you?" Light shook his head. "We were drunk."

"And since then I have made it a point to keep any and all alcoholic beverages away from the two of you."

"But that one time during spring break three years ago—"

"Shall never be brought up again."

Light grinned. That was a fun spring break.

Matsuda looked at the kids. He knew the kids were just as bad as their parents and their aunt. He honestly didn't know who to wish luck, the kids or the parents.

Or maybe himself, since he was always around all of them…

Yeah, he would just wish himself luck.

* * *

><p><strong>Monkey: And yeah, that's it. I'll try uploading every weekend until this story is complete, because that's the only time I can really write into my fanfics nowadays that I've finally gotten used to my new schedule. But I can't promise anything! n.n;<strong>

**Thanks for reading! :3 Especially to all of you who have kept up with this fanfic despite the time it has been since I updated n.n;; All of you who alert/favorite/review this fic, you are awesome! :D**


	10. Light's Birthday

**Monkey: So, it's been a while, right? **

**Excuse any typos and mistakes you see, I didn't look over this. I just wanted to upload it as soon as I finished it.**

* * *

><p>"Damnit L!" a voice yelled loudly very early in the morning. A crash came right after, followed by a curse.<p>

There was a short period of silence before another crash was heard.

And that was the cue for everyone in the house to wake up in the morning. Worked better than an alarm sometimes.

Near, Matt and Mello met up down the hall from their parents' room as they rubbed at their eyes sleepily.

"What time is it?" Matt asked as he yawned loudly. If the other two weren't his brothers, they wouldn't be able to understand him.

"Early." Mello replied. "Come on, today's a special day."

Near nodded and led the way down the stairs.

Today really was a special day.

It was Light's birthday.

Ironic that his birthday would happen while they were in the middle of their bet.

Speaking of their bet, they only had a couple days left before the week ended and still, none of them seemed to have an upperhand.

Today, L had Light trapped in their room very early in the morning.

"_L_!"

"Sorry Light, you are staying in there until further notice." L spoke from outside the door Light was pounding on. He pulled out a cherry lollipop and tapped it against the door. "If you're good, I'll let you out early for good behavior." That was a lie. He unwrapped the lollipop and stuck it in his mouth happily.

"It's not fair, L! Let me help!" Light hated just sitting around in his room all day doing nothing. Especially today. He couldn't even go to work because Misa and Kiyomi threatened to give him only tables with male customers if he showed up on his birthday.

Light tended to go around on his birthday and accidentally ruined all the surprises everyone always set up for him. It wasn't his fault, honest, he just ended up at the wrong place at the wrong time every time.

Like, every year.

L had even tried various methods of keeping him from discovering the surprises in store for him, but one time Light ended up on a one-way trip to Switzerland and that had resulted in a complete disaster, so L had to resort to less extreme measures, like simply locking him in their room, which is the only time he would change the doorknobs as Light slept so they could be locked from the outside. He also decided to install metal bars on the windows.

L made the decision to keep Light in their room until it was deemed safe for him to come out to enjoy the surprise.

"No, Light. You will let the rest of us do all the work for once and you will be a good birthday boy and get yourself all pretty for tonight." L replied, waving the lollipop around even though Light couldn't see.

"… You've been talking to Sayu, haven't you?"

"Of course. Who do you think is going to be helping us today?"

"At least let me have my phone?"

"No. There is no telling what you can manage to do with that, so it is best that I hang on to it for a while."

The front door slammed open. "Light!" Sayu sang out, dropping her purse and several bags full of party decorations onto one of the couches. They could hear her all the way upstairs. "Where is my beautiful birthday boy?"

L walked to the top of the stairs and called down, "Hey, he is _my_ beautiful birthday boy!"

"Oh hush L, you can share him for one day! Let me see his beautiful face! I owe him some birthday hugs and birthday punches!" She ran up the stairs and was stopped by L who held a hand up. She pouted.

"First, we get this house ready for a party. Then you can see him. For now, he is locked in his room."

Sayu passed him up the stairs and knocked on the door. "Light!" She sang out. "Happy birthday! We'll have everything set up quickly so you'll be out of there before you know it! Although, I might give you some extra time to doll yourself up."

Light rolled his eyes. "You're all horrible." He breathed in deeply and let it out tiredly. Seriously, what was he supposed to do for the better part of a lot of hours? Even _he_ didn't spend that time getting himself ready for an occasion! The brunette shook his head and went to sit on the edge of his bed.

He looked to his right where there were a couple of bookshelves filled to the brim with some of his and L's favorite books. They had a room dedicated to books in the house, but this was their private stash. The boys knew these books were off limits unless they asked permission.

Caramel eyes scanned some of the titles. Maybe some light reading wouldn't hurt...

He walked over to the bookshelves and picked out on of his favorite books before going back to the bed.

_I'll only read the first couple chapters then I'll try to make my escape and help them out with all the preparations._ Light decided as he opened the book and started reading the first chapter.

Unfortunately for him, a "couple chapters" for him meant at least half the book, so that at least bought everyone else some time before they needed to be on the lookout to see if he's escaped.

* * *

><p>The doorbell rang and Mello and Matt raced to open it.<p>

"Out of my way!" Mello yelled as he ran out of the kitchen, trying to elbow Matt aside. The redhead dodged and attempted to trip the blonde.

Neither noticed Near easily slip past them to open the door. His two brothers collided with each other and ended up in a pile of limbs on the floor. They looked up at him and the person at the door.

"You little shit!" Mello exclaimed, pushing Matt's head away from him.

"Ow, watch it!" Matt frowned and kicked at him.

Near offered them a small smirk before turning to smile angelically at their new guest. "Hello, Matsuda."

Their uncle wore a worried expression as he showed the kids the nicely wrapped gift in his hands. "Uh, good morning kids." Mello was the first one off the ground and gently pushed Near out of the way to accept the present.

"I'll take that and put it in the pile over in the living room." He rushed off with a grin.

Near stepped back and helped his brother up as Matsuda entered. "I'm early, aren't I?"

The two nodded.

"But you can help out if you want," Matt offered, bringing a hand up to his head. He was never going to answer the door again with Mello around.

Matsuda smiled then looked around. "Where's the birthday boy?"

"Locked inside his room," Near replied.

"… Right." Matsuda nodded at them and then walked inside to help Sayu and L

with the preparations.

Near closed the door and looked up at Matt. "At least we have a small guest list today."

"Thank God."

The two went back to work with their obligations for the party.

"So who's cooking?" Sayu asked as she put up some streamers.

"Obviously not us." L replied from the living room as he put up some balloons around the place.

She snorted. "Well duh."

Light would probably kill them if they tried to cook and ended up burning the house down, or at least the kitchen.

"Your parents told me they'd be the ones to cook, though I went ahead and ordered some of the best cake out there from Light's favorite bakery."

Matt and Near raced around with a handful of balloons and Mello followed right after with more balloons.

"What kind of cake did you order?" Matsuda asked from the top of the stairs.

"Every cake on the menu."

Sayu cackled. "Light's gonna _love_ that." She coughed. "I can't wait to see him skin you alive."

L rolled his eyes. "It is a special occasion."

"Didn't Light put you on a diet?" Matsuda wondered.

"He has tried." L smirked. "He has not succeeded."

The three boys ran around with more decorations before the doorbell rang.

"That must be my parents," Sayu said, heading over to open the door to prevent the kids from fighting again.

She opened the door and smiled. "Mom, dad, hi! Come on in!" She stepped aside and let Sachiko and Soichiro walk in with smiles and presents.

Sachiko immediately went to work in the kitchen with Sayu's help while Soichiro worked with Matsuda and L.

"Where's my son?" Soichiro asked, when he noticed the brunette's absence.

"Locked in his room." L replied, pulling out a strawberry candy.

Soichiro nodded once. "Good."

Matsuda shook his head at his commander. This family was too much sometimes.

Three hours passed by without a hitch and everything was ready for Light.

Speaking of, the birthday boy was oddly silent the entire time everyone was setting up the small party. No one was sure if that was a good thing or not.

L brought a thumb to his lips. "I will go get Light."

"I want to go!" the three kids quickly spoke, jumping up and down.

The raven stared down at them. He thought about for a second before smirking. "No."

The kids pouted.

"I will see if he did not escape. If he did, I will send the three of you after him."

The boys smiled. "Ok!"

L made his way up the stairs and stopped in front of his room. He knocked lightly on it. "Light? You have been awfully quiet this whole time, but your punishment is over now."

No answer.

L sighed. He figured it wouldn't be this easy.

"Light, please, do not pout. It is your birthday and now we can all celebrate."

Still nothing.

L shook his head and unlocked the door. He opened it and looked around. "Light?"

The bars on the window were kicked down.

"Boys!" L called out as he raced for the window.

The kids took their cue and immediately ran out of the house on the hunt for their daddy.

"He couldn't have gotten too far," Matt spoke as they looked all over for him. Who knows how long the brunette had been out?

Sayu stepped out of the house with a smirk on her face. She tapped the ground with her five inch stilettos twice before nodding. "This is going to be just like old times." She brought a finger up to her chin and thought for a bit before snapping her fingers in triumph. "I know exactly where he is!" And she started running in that direction.

"You have a car!" Mello yelled out.

"Running is good for you!" She replied, with a wave back at them.

Sachiko chuckled from the front door. "Oh my, these kids have so much energy, don't they?"

Soichiro shook his head. "It's all those energy drinks they take now."

Mello smiled as he pulled out a chocolate bar. "Nah, just plain old insanity." He shared a look with his brothers and the three went off in the same direction their aunt went.

L came out of the house behind Light's parents. "Not to worry, we will be right back with him." He offered them a smile and started walking at a calm pace after his kids. He figured where Light was as well and felt no need to rush.

Matsuda joined Sachiko and Soichiro and smiled happily. "Isn't this turning out to be such a great party?"

Soichiro sighed heavily. He still remembered back when he didn't want his son to end up with L. But well, he now has three adorable albeit demonic grandchildren and his son seemed really happy, so other than Light jumping out a window after breaking down the metal bars, everything seemed to be pretty… normal.

Yep.

He went inside. "I need to sit down."

Sachiko smiled and walked back inside with Matsuda. "I think it's wonderful."

Matsuda figured she was immune to their freaky antics.

She was lucky.

* * *

><p>"No, I don't want every cake on the menu," Light repeated for the third time. He was going to skin L alive for this.<p>

"Sorry kid, the order's been paid for already and we're almost done. We can't just quit now."

Light thought for a second. "Then donate all the cakes! Hospitals, the less fortunate, you neighbors even, but I don't want all those cakes!"

The owner stared at him and thought about what the pretty boy was saying. "Well…"

Before anyone could utter another word, Light was tackled to the ground by a very happy Sayu.

"Found you, bro!" She looked up at the scared owner of the bakery and offered him her most beautiful smiles as she got off the brunette. "Please, don't listen to a word he's saying. I wanna see all these cakes delivered because I want to see my bro mutilate his lover."

The owner took a shaky step back and swallowed.

She was beautiful, but terrifying.

"Daddy!" Three little kids called out, rushing over to Light who was standing up. He nearly fell over again.

"Dammit Sayu, don't encourage him!"

Near raised his arms up and Light complied.

"Happy birthday daddy," the three said with a smile. Light smiled kindly at them.

"Thank you, boys. But your father is crazy if he thinks that I'm going to let this bakery deliver 72 different cakes to our house." Light frowned.

Sayu giggled. "Come on bro, live a little!"

"She is right, Light. I want those cakes." L spoke as he entered the bakery as well.

Light rolled his eyes. "I won't let you use my birthday as an excuse for you to pig out on an insane amount of cake." He set Near down with his brothers. "I'm going to donate those cakes."

The owner of the bakery watched them in a bit of wonder and fear. These people were a family? They were quite dysfunctional, it seemed.

"L."

"Light."

Sayu leaned against the counter watching them in interest. Even though it was Light's birthday, L wasn't one to give in, especially over something such as cakes. On the other hand, Light was pretty adamant on how much sugar he wanted his kids eating, Mello's chocolates excluded.

Light pinched the bridge of his nose. "Fine. I'll make you a deal."

"I am listening."

"Pick your three favorite cakes and we'll take those. The rest we'll donate."

Sayu raised a hand. "Can I have one before you donate all of them? I've kinda been living off junk food for the past month anyway, cake won't hurt."

Her brother spared her a glance. "Fine."

Mello attempted to raise his hand to ask for a cake too but Light looked at him and said no. The boy pouted and lowered his hand, elbowing Matt in the side for giggling at him. Near rolled his eyes at them and continued to watch his parents.

"Five."

"Three."

"Four."

"_Three._

The two stared at each other.

"… Fine. But only because it is your birthday." L walked up to Light and whispered, "You will have to make up for it later tonight."

Although certain the kids didn't hear, Sayu did. A shit-eating grinning spread across her face. "Aw yeah, someone's getting laid tonight!"

Light brought a hand up to cover his red face. Really, this was his family. This was who he was stuck with for the rest of his life. Hooray.

Once everything was settled, they all went back home and celebrated Light's birthday. They only had three cakes and the rest really were donated.

When the presents rolled around, the kids froze. In all their years, they had never, not once forgotten Light's birthday. Meaning, they never forgot to get a present.

But this year, they were so caught up with their bet that they forget to get him something.

Mello paled at the realization. Matt's thumbs started twitching because Light was opening presents and would see that his own kids forgot to get him something. Near sat in a corner of the living room with his head lying against the wall.

What were they going to do?

"Light, do not forget this one." L spoke, bringing up a small rectangular present covered in wrapping paper decorated with physics equations. They had… interesting wrapping paper for different occasions.

"Oh?" Light raised a brow. "Who's it from?"

"The boys."

Their heads immediately shot up and they made their way over to Light on the couch. They crowed around his legs and peered at the box he was unwrapping.

They didn't get him anything though!

This must have been L's doing.

Light finished unwrapping it and smiled when he saw the present. "I love it, thank you."

It was a picture frame with a picture of the very first day the kids were adopted. Light was sitting on the couch with Mello and Matt as toddlers sitting on either side of him with great big smiles and Near was a tiny baby in his arms. L was the one that took the picture. Everyone looked so happy.

Light leaned over and gave all his kids a kiss on the forehead. "Thank you, really."

"You're welcome daddy," they replied.

Light carefully set the frame aside and continued opening his presents, now with an even bigger smile on his face.

The kids stepped back a bit to join L. They looked up at him questioningly. He looked down at them with a slight smirk.

"Our little secret." He whispered while Light was thanking his mom for the present.

The boys looked at each other before going over to L and hugging him. Light didn't notice and L shook his head with a slight smile. Only because it was Light's birthday was he playing nice. He figured the boys completely forgot to get a present because of their competition.

But he wouldn't be nice tonight with Light. Oh no, he had to make up for the loss of sixty-nine cakes.

* * *

><p><strong>Monkey: I tried. <strong>I wonder if I still have any readers. If I do, thank you for reading.<strong>**

**There's only a couple chapters left. When I first started this story, since it was a sequel, I wanted to write one more installment of the DN family fics I had going, but now I'm not sure. Would anyone read a final sequel to this? **


	11. And the Favorite is

**Monkey: Well, I wanted to write two more chapters, but I figured I should finish this story already so I could move onto the final installment of this series (that I will eventually get started on).**

**Disclaimer? Disclaimed.**

* * *

><p>"Alright, can someone tell me what the hell is going on here?" Light asked, staring down at his kids. He placed his hands on his hips and waited for someone to say something. None of them moved to answer.<p>

It was the last day of the bet and things had been getting rather hectic in the morning. They still couldn't figure out who was the preferred child and unfortunately for them, Light finally noticed their little competition.

L opened his mouth to speak but the boys all turned to look at him. It seems they had started to develop their daddy's patented _look_. That was going to be a problem in the future, he just knew it. Sometime later, he and Light were going to have a talk about that. He stared blankly at them. "Light, I think you can figure this one out."

The brunette shook his head. "For some reason, I thought the three of you were doing something as idiotic as competing with each other for my attention, but that's just silly and you guys are smarter than that, right?" He looked at them expectantly, waiting to be proved wrong.

The boys stayed quiet.

Light blinked in surprise. "… You didn't, tell me you didn't."

Mello was the first to speak. "We just wanted to know who you liked more."

"Yeah, we weren't doing anyone any harm." Matt added.

"It was only for the week." Near finished.

Light brought a hand up to cover his face then slowly brought it down. "What on earth made you three think that was a good idea? There are no favorites in this family!"

"Oh come on, we all know Near is your favorite," Mello spoke, defeated, as he plopped down onto the couch.

"Now that's not true," Light began, taking a seat by him and letting Near climb into his lap. "I'm serious when I say we don't have any favorites. We love you all equally."

"That's a _lie_! He's the favorite!" Mello pointed an accusing finger at the albino who just stared at him. Near didn't know what to say now that their daddy knew what was going on. He would've liked to be the favorite child, but somehow it felt wrong now.

Matt nodded in agreement with Mello and sat on the couch beside him.

Light frowned. He was hurt to think that his children were actually fighting over who he liked most. Didn't they think about his feelings? He didn't like seeing his kids compete over everything. He knew a little competition was healthy, but with these three, it always seemed to get out of hand. Like this time for instance.

It was bad enough all three had genius IQs and were constantly trying to prove who was better at what, now they were trying to find who he loved the most?

L watched them as he sat on the couch opposite of them and smirked until Light turned to face him.

"L. This isn't funny."

"Yes it is."

"_L_," Light warned.

The raven hair detective brought a thumb to his mouth and gave in to Light, again. Yeah, he definitely needed to have a talk with Light before their kids picked up a thing or two. "There are no favorites between you three."

It was obvious who held the power in their family.

L didn't mind, really. They both knew what went on behind closed doors and who _really_ held the power in their family. But he would let Light have his moments.

"But there has to be! It's obviously _Near_." He narrowed his eyes at his younger brother. Matt also stared at Near and the youngest found it strange that they both thought he was the favorite. Why then, go through all this trouble?

Light looked down at the little albino in his lap. "Do you think this too?"

"Not really."

"Liar!" Mello jumped off the couch and turned to face the youngest boy. "He's always holding your hand, picking you up and carrying you everywhere even though you're old enough to walk. He stopped doing that to Matt and me a long time ago!"

Light looked at them before realizing what they were saying and blushed a bit. L smirked and decided to speak.

"Ah, there is a reason for that."

"_L_," Light warned.

"What?" L asked innocently. "I merely want to satisfy their curiosity."

* * *

><p>Light was at the mall with a baby Near. The tiny albino was about almost year old and he had recently arrived to L and Light's house a few months back. The baby liked the house, as did his brothers, but his brothers were busy with their grandparents and L was off doing detective stuff while it was Light's day off. He had decided to go to the mall and take Near with him so he could buy him more toys since he seemed to have a strange liking of toys, much like his brothers had of chocolate (though Light was wary of giving Mello too much chocolate at such a young age) and video games (and it didn't matter how young Matt was, he really enjoyed pressing all the buttons and playing for hours).<p>

They were at the food court and Light was too busy trying to order food while the creepy older male cashier kept hitting on him to notice that Near was getting a little fussy. The baby was bored and so he somehow unstrapped himself and carefully and quietly got out of his stroller without Light noticing since the latter was already planning how to murder the cashier in his sleep.

Well once that hard task was over with, Near began crawling away over to where he saw really big, fluffy, colorful stuffed animals. He wanted one. They were bigger than he was, he _really _wanted one.

No one seemed to notice the baby until Light finally looked into the stroller and saw he was missing a baby.

Can anyone guess how he reacted to this?

That's right!

He panicked, paled, and felt his heart stop.

"Near? Near! Where did you go?!"

Not to mention, _how_ did he go?

He left the stroller after looking all around it for the baby and began looking everywhere in their immediate area. He finally found the baby a couple minutes later. Even by then, he was completely freaked out.

Near was climbing on top of a giant green stuffed dinosaur that was as tall as Light.

Light felt his heart stop again when he saw how dangerously close to falling Near was. Light rushed into the toy store and quickly caught the toddler as he reached the head and slipped.

"Oh my god! Near! Don't ever—how did you—oh I'm so glad you're alright!" He hugged the baby close. Near had a tight grip on his daddy's clothes and giggled a bit. He didn't know what happened, but he thought it was funny.

Light brought him back to the food court where his stroller was still miraculously there, thanks to a young girl who saw him run off calling for his kid and decided to watch over his things. The brunette thanked her graciously and strapped Near in, checking to make sure the smiling baby wouldn't get away again. With the baby in his sights again, Light felt his heartbeat return to normal and he went to go get his lunch, though he ended up just playing with his food and keeping an eye on Near who was busy clapping at invisible shows.

L hugged him and told him things were alright when Light got home and told him what happened and Light swore he would never let anything happen to Near again.

Unfortunately, the toddler had other ideas. Every time they went out, the toddler found some way to get away from Light and even L a couple times. It was even worse when he was with his grandparents or with Sayu. It wasn't until they noticed that Near stayed with them whenever Light held him the entire time that they realized that was what they had to do. They would always keep him close by—well Light would.

* * *

><p>Near looked at the brunette who looked really sad. "… I'm sorry daddy."<p>

Mello on the other hand was cracking up. "Damn! And I thought I was the bad child!"

Near cuddled more into Light who let him do so. "I'm sorry Near. I just didn't know why you kept leaving. I thought you didn't like us."

"I think Near just had an adventurous side to him in his younger days." L said.

Light sighed. "Well, now you guys know why I find it a little hard letting Near out of my sight. It doesn't mean I favor him over you guys, I just don't want to lose him." He looked down and felt his sight get a little blurry.

Before he knew it, three little blurs pushed him back with a hug. He blinked a couple times and put his arms around the children in his lap. "I love you."

"We love you too," they replied.

Light looked up and locked eyes with L. The detective shook his head. Light narrowed his eyes over the boys' heads. With a reluctant sigh, L came over and joined them on the couch. The kids let go of Light and cuddled in between their parents.

"Now, are the three of you going to stop this nonsense about who I love more?"

Matt was the first to nod. Mello slowly followed and Near finally agreed after.

"Besides, it is obvious he loves me more." L spoke up.

Light reached over and tried smacking the back of his head but L easily ducked out of the way with a smile.

"Face it, Light. You love me."

"I love the kids more."

"Your words wound me."

"Sticks and stones."

"That is beyond even my likes."

"I hate you."

L leaned forward and pecked him on the lips before hopping off the couch and heading towards the kitchen. "Light, did we have any left over cake?"

"No, you ate it all yesterday." The kids moved around Light to let him stand up and follow L into the kitchen. "Drop that tub of ice cream. I'm not letting you eat that after all the cake you had yesterday."

"But that was sugar for yesterday, I need some for today." L searched for a spoon.

"How about some fruit?"

"Only if they are covered with sugar or chocolate syrup."

"Dammit L."

The kids grinned at their interaction. Well, this competition ended without a definite result, but they really enjoyed the fact that Light, and even L, cared about them so much. And the kids loved them back just as much, if not more.

That night, Light went to bed and managed to—for once—convince L to join him for a little rest as well. Not an hour into their sleep, their kids came in, asking if they could sleep with them. Light happily agreed despite L fearing they wouldn't all fit with the kids' stuffed animals they brought with them and the kids climbed into bed and laid down between their sleeping parents. It was moments like these they had to treasure now because there will come a day when they can no longer do things like that. But until then, this was probably the best sleep the family had had in a long time.

They could only imagine what the kids' teenage years would be like. Not to mention, what Light and L would be like by then. Their family was full of dysfunction, but that's what made things so interesting.

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><p><strong>Monkey: So I figure this seems to be a rushed chapter, but I actually had the flashback part written since I finished the second chapter (oh so long ago) and I just did what I could to wrap this story up. I tried, really. <strong>

**I will see when I'll have the time to start on the final DN family fic, but I was thinking on focusing it on their teenage years. I have no clue what to write about, or what kind of shenanigans the kids-er, teens, will get into, but if anyone has anything they'd like to see, throw them at me, I'm open for ideas.**

**Well, to those of you who stuck around to the end, thank you for reading.**

**Everyone who favorited/alerted/reviewed, you are all lovely people, thank you very much.**

**See you guys in the next story!**


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